Italian scholar, poet, and philosopher, one of the great writers of the 19th century. Leopardi was a contemporary of the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, with whom he shared a similar pessimistic view of life. Leopardi's love problems inspired some of his saddest lyrics. In his late years, when he lived on the slopes of Vesuvius, Leopardi meditated upon the possibility of the total destruction of humankind.